Art & Project was Amsterdam's leading contemporary art gallery in the 1970s and eighties, as well as the name of an influential art magazine published by the same gallery between 1968 and 1989.
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The Amsterdam gallery Art & Project (1968-2001), led by Adriaan van Ravesteijn & Geert van Beijeren, was for more than 30 years a major platform for conceptual art in the Netherlands and beyond.
From the start of the gallery in 1968, Art & Project supported an international group of artists that was mostly associated with Minimal Art, Conceptual Art and Land Art. Through their Art & Project Bulletin, the gallery build an artistic network and enabled artists to have "exhibitions by mail".
The following artists were involved with the gallery (and the bulletin): Barry Flanagan, Douglas Huebler, Lawrence Weiner, Sol LeWitt, Robert Barry, Carl Andre, Joseph Kosuth, Richard Long, Stanley Brouwn, Gilbert & George, Alighiero Boetti, Francesco Clemente, Allen Ruppersberg, Marcel Broodthaers, John Baldessari, Hamish Fulton, Jan Dibbets, Ian Wilson, Bas Jan Ader and Daniel Buren.
Between September 1968 and November 1989 Adriaan van Ravesteijn & Geert van Beijeren published 156 bulletins of Art & Project. The first magazines were merely announcements of upcoming exhibitions in the Art & Project gallery. Later editions more and more took the form of art objects.
The magazine was printed by The Hague printshop Delta in an edition of 800. The format was generally A3, which was folded and thus formed 4 A4 pages. It was generally printed black ink on white paper. In some cases the standard format was abandoned, for example:
Art & Project was meant to be a monthly but was not always published regularly (17 in 1972, only 8 in 1973). Between June 1983 and December 1984 no magazines were published.
The magazine was distributed free of charge to about 400 addresses (mainly artists, galleries and curators). The remainder of each edition could be picked up at the gallery in Amsterdam. In some cases distribution (and even printing) took place in other cities:
The name Art & Project has become sheer legendary in the world of art. Along with the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the gallery was an important centre for renewal of contemporary art in Europe in the sixties and seventies. Art & Project bulletins have become much sought-after documents. Several museums and galleries (Geneva, MoMA) have dedicated exhibitions commemorating the Art & Project legacy (see Links below).